A Christmas Tale
by Cause in the daylight-x
Summary: The Annual Gray-Torres Christmas vacation! Fun? Maybe not to Shane and Mitchie, who can't stand each other. Could a blizzard keeping them stranded in the middle of a mountain at a ski resort bring them closer?
1. You Never Heard of a Christmas Song War?

**A Christmas Tale**

_You Never Heard of a Christmas Song War?_

Every year when school dismisses us for our Christmas Vacation. I hear the same thing.

"Mitchie! Guess what! No wait, I'll tell you! We're going to upstate New York for vacation with the Gray family!" That was my mother. Trust me when I say, her enthusiasm gets old after almost eighteen years. She thinks it's some big surprise when the annual Gray-Torres Christmas vacation rears its ugly head in December. My parents are long time friends with Mr. and Mrs. Gray. On the Gray-Torres Christmas vacation we go skiing, snowboarding, sledding, and anything else you can imagine in the wintertime.

"Mom, we do this every year. It's not a surprise. Honestly, I'm not all that excited about it," I sighed.

I love the Grays. I really do. I love Denise and Paul- the parents of three lovely children and the demon child. Well, most of them are not children anymore. Jason is now twenty. Nate is my age of seventeen. Frankie is eight. He loves Santa Claus. Then we come to the devil's mutant spawn, Shane. He is eighteen going on nineteen; he's done with highschool. Ever since he graduated months ago he has acted nothing but cocky.

"I'm a man now," he says. No, he's not. He is the most immature, cruel, sarcastic loser I've ever met. He always uses girls. I'm sure what Christmas means to him is 'what's in it for Shane?'

It would be okay if we all didn't have to ride in a big van together, so I wouldn't have to look at Shane. It's worse enough sharing a cabin with Shane, but at least Nate, Jason, and Frankie will be there. Nate is my best friend. Jason is like my older brother. Frankie is just an abundance of adorableness, if that makes any sense at all.

"Why aren't you excited?" my mom asked in the concerned, motherly tone.

"Because Shane ruins every Christmas for me!" I shouted. She knew that. Why'd she have to ask?

"Hmm, I never realized my daughter was such a drama queen," my mother said whilst washing the dishes in the kitchen.

"Mom! When I was seven, he 'accidentally' spilled egg nog on my favorite dress on Christmas day. When I was eight, he destroyed my snowman that I worked so hard on. When I was nine, he said we should go sledding, and he pushed me down the hill when I wasn't ready and I broke my arm! When I was ten, he told me Santa was not real, and ruined everything! When I was eleven-" my mom cut off my rant.

"Honey, I know he's done some bad things. He's a good boy deep down, though," my mom smiled at me mischeviously. Yep, it's been the Gray-Torres parents' dream for us to get married, have children, and live happily ever after. They thought we'd make the most beautiful children. What the hell. That's never, ever going to happen. The first time Shane and I both heard our parents fantasizing about that, we covered our ears and screamed. Then the next time our parents mentioned it, Shane was a little older and said it was gay. You know how boys learn the word gay and replace it with stupid and never stop saying it. That was the phase Shane went through.

"Mom, I hate Shane," I insisted. She just shrugged.

"I don't care if you do. The minute your father gets home from work I want you to start packing for tomorrow morning when we go on our eight hour drive," my mom said hastily.

"Oh joy, I love packing almost as much as I love Shane," I said sarcastically and stomped up the way to my bedroom.

------x3------

I heard honking outside the house. Ugh, it was way too early in the morning for loud noises. They are here. _He_ is here. I was wearing a white pea coat and dark washed jeans. I was wearing a white beanie hat over my pin-straight, long brown hair to emphasize the chocolate brown color of my eyes. My feet were cozy warm in Uggs.

I ran down the stairs as fast I could with my suitcase. I really wanted to see Nate, Frankie, and Jason. I harshly swung open the door, and ran outside. The minute I saw Nate, I dropped my suitcase and embraced Nate with a big hug.

"Nice to see you, too, Mitchie," he laughed, hugging her back.

"Jeez, Nate, you got so tall since I saw you last summer!" I was in awe at my best friend. I now had to look way up at him he was so tall. He was almost taller than Jason…and Shane. Where is that idiot anyway? I broke away from Nate and looked around. Denise and Paul were getting out of the car with Frankie clinging to their side. Then I saw Jason hop out, and Shane sluggishly exited the car, too.

My parents got outside, too. We were going to get into their spacious van. Denise and Paul were ecstatic to see me and were now chatting away like there's no tomorrow.

In a few minutes of catching up, we were ready to go. "Shane, get over here and take Mitchie's suitcase. Throw Mitchie's stuff in the back," Paul ordered. Shane was leaning on the van nonchalantly watching the reunion go on.

"She has man-hands. She could do it herself," Shane smirked. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Son, get over here and take her suitcase," Paul ordered with a bit of annoyance. Shane held his hands up in surrender. Shane took my stuff and carelessly threw it in the back of the van. Gee, thanks for being so gentle with my stuff.

"Ignore him," Jason said, placing a hand on my shoulder. That will be easy because that's all I ever do.

"Mitchie!" Frankie shrieked and hugged me.

"Hey Frankster," I smiled.

"You're pretty! I got my library card and I'm checking you out," Frankie said in a deeper voice. My eyes widened and a hint of a blush came onto my cheeks.

"Frankie! I said only use that on good looking girls!" Shane yelled from where he was- which was now leaning on the van again. Figures, Shane the player taught him that chat up line. Please, Frankie, don't turn into Shane. Please!

"What are you talking about, Shay? Mitchie's a babe!" Frankie yelled back. I laughed.

"Thank you, Frankie. Don't you ever turn into Shane!" I warned him.\

"Ew! Trust me, I won't. I wanna be just like Nate!" he smiled.

"Good choice!" I patted his head.

When we got in the van, Shane started to complain- as usual.

"Why do I have to sit next to Mitchie?" Shane asked. Denise sent me an apologetic look and glared at him.

"'Cause Nate wanted to sit next to Mitchie, and Frankie didn't want to sit next to you, so he wanted to sit next to Jason. That's why," Denise explained. In the first row, with the steering wheel it was my dad and Paul. The next row behind them was my mom, an empty seat, and Denise. The row behind them and in front of me was Jason, an empty seat, and Frankie. The last row was Nate, me, and Shane. Only God knows why I had to be in the middle of them.

About an hour into the car ride, the dads were talking about construction work, the moms were talking about bad experiences at a hair salon. Jason and Frankie were playing their PSPs together. You're never too old for Play Station Portable.

I was texting Caitlyn because I wanted to set her up with Nate. Nate, being a very shy guy, kept blushing and told me not to, but I didn't listen.

"Come on, Nate! You two would be perfect for each other!" I pleaded. He shook that curly top head of his. "She's funny, smart, musically inclined, and pretty!" I put on my puppy dog face. Nate cannot resist my puppy dog face.

"Fine," he sighed. The second our conversation ended, I realized Shane was talking on the phone to his girlfriend, Charlotte. He was basically not even talking louder than a whisper to her on the phone.

"Char, baby, I miss you so much. Yeah, that was definitely a great night we had." I raised my eyebrows at that. I knew Shane was obsessed with making out with girls, but now he's having sex with them? "Maybe we can do it again. Oh, yeah. Well, I gotta go. Someone's trying to listen to my conversation. Who? No one. Love you, too. Bye, Gorgeous." He hung up and rolled his eyes at me.

"Yeah, like you actually love her. I don't think you're capable of loving someone," I said. I had a point. He was a teenage male. He didn't love her. He loved her body.

"I do so love her. I think you're just jealous," he smirked. Nate knew Shane and I were about to fight, so he turned his head towards the window. Nate knows things get ugly.

"Oh, sure. I'm so jealous. Shane, I want you. I need you. You're so hot," I said a in a pretend, desperate, seductive voice.

"At least you finally admitted it," he laughed. I smacked his arm. "Ow, Mitchie. Those man-hands of yours really hurt. What do they call you at school, Man-Hands Mitchie?" he joked.

"Go to hell, Shane!" I yelled.

"Oh, no. They're already fighting," I heard my mom say.

"Sure! I'd do anything to get away from you!" Shane yelled back. See, you'd think our parents would intervene by now. Last time they tried to break up a fight, it was an epic fail for them. Now their attitudes are 'they'll stop fighting sooner or later.'

"Yeah, I'd thought you'd like to go to Hell. After all, you are the devil's child," I retorted.

"Is that so? Well-" Shane's probably failure of a comeback was cut off.

"Will you both just shut up?!" Jason asked, turned around in his seat.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Frankie chuckled, now turned around in his seat also.

"I would, but Shane isn't of that level of maturity yet," I smiled sweetly at Shane.

"Didn't hurt when my mom said it, won't hurt when you say it," he informed.

Four hours into this glorious ride, I was awoken by the wildebeest. "Get off me, Mitchie," Shane grumbled. I opened my eyes and saw that I was sleeping on Shane's shoulder. Whoops. I swear I feel asleep on Nate's shoulder! I quickly tore myself away from Shane. I looked at him, he was already sound asleep again, so he couldn't yell at me.

"Frankie took a picture of you and Shane while you were both sleeping," Nate whispered to me. My eyes widened. No one can ever see that picture. I must delete it.

"Frankie, can I see your camera?" I asked sweetly. He turned around in his seat.

"Maybe if you give me a kiss on the cheek, my darling," Frankie said. I got to tell you, anything that comes out of that boy's mouth is cute. I leaned towards him and kissed him on the cheek. He grinned and handed me the camera.

"Thanks." I skimmed through the pictures and found it! I gasped and so did Nate. "I have to delete this."

"No, Mitchie you can't!" Frankie shouted and grabbed the camera away from me as I was going to press delete. "It's the best picture I've ever taken!" Frankie whined. Admittedly, it was a really good picture for an eight year old. In the picture, we were sleeping. My head was resting on Shane's shoulder and Shane's head was resting on mine. It made him look angelic.

"You got to admit, that was a really good picture," Nate teased, nudging me. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Frankie, please. It's a really embarrassing picture, though. Please, delete it," I begged. Frankie shook his head.

"No, I have to show everyone else. It's the first good picture I've taken! Mommy says first times are the ones you remember most. What if I become a photographer? I want to look back on this," Frankie explained.

"The kid's got a point," Jason piped, not even turning around, stick his pointer finger in the air. I sighed and gave up. It's just a picture. No big deal. Right?

"Can you put on Christmas music, Paul?" Denise asked. He tried, but then remembered the radio was broken in the van since they don't use it too often. Shane started stirring in his sleep and woke up. He groaned.

"The radio is broken," Paul stated.

"That's alright. Shane can sing us something," Denise said. "Shane, sing us a song!"

"Yeah, come on, Shane," I urged teasingly. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"I don't sing, mother," he insisted, gritting his teeth. Irritation was evident in his tone.

"What are you talking about, Shane? You were hired to sing at our neighbor's wedding last year and you got a standing ovation," his mom said confusedly.

"I don't want to sing," he stated.

"Shane Adam Gray, you will sing. Right. Now." His mother demanded. Let me tell you, nothing's worse than a mother's demands. They do mean it.

"Fine," he huffed. "_Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. Since we have no place to go, let it snow. Let it snow. Let is snow_," he sang. I was taken aback, but I didn't show it. How did I ever not know he had the voice of an angel?

I remember when he made his remix of that song a few years ago. 'Oh Mitchie Torres is so frightful, but her parents are so delightful. Since I have no choice but to hang out with her, let it suck. Let it suck. Let it suck.' He made that up when he was eleven. I think you can tell. But when he sang his remix, it was in a bratty voice. When he learned how to sing so soulfully and beautifully, is beyond my knowledge.

"Oh, honey, that was great! Sing more!" his mom encourage. All four parents were marveling about how great Shane's voice is. I can sing, too. Haha._ I can sing, too._

"No, it's okay, Mrs. Gray. I'll sing now," I stated as I locked eyes with Shane. It was an unheard challenge. A silent challenge. A mute challenge. A secret challenge. Whatever you want to call it. Ever since Shane and I were old enough to know what a challenge was, we challenged each other.

"Oh_, there's no place like home for the holidays. For no matter how far away you roam - When you long for the sunshine of a friendly gaze. For the holidays - you can't beat home, sweet home_!" I sang, and then smirked at Shane who rolled his eyes at me.

"That was just as beautiful, Mitchie," Denise complimented.

"Hey, I wanna sing!" Frankie cried.

"Shut up, Frankie. I'm singing," Shane declared. He was accepting the challenge. "_Joy to the World, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, and Heaven and nature sing, and Heaven and nature sing, and Heaven, and_ _Heaven, and nature sing_," Shane finished.

"Shane, you are so talented," my mother stated.

"Yeah, well, my turn," I said curtly. "_I don't want a lot for Christmas. There's just one thing I need. I don't care about the presents; underneath the Christmas tree. I just want you for my own. More than you could ever know. Make my wish come_ _true. All I want for Christmas is... you_," I smiled. That so beat Shane's rendition of Joy to the World.

"We have such talented children in the van, don't we?" Paul asked.

"Well, Ms. Thaaang, you think you have a better voice than me?" Shane asked. Then he started singing. "_I'll be home for Christmas. You can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe. And presents under the tree. Christmas Eve will find me. Where the love light beams. I'll be home for Christmas. If only in my dreams._"

Sure enough, twenty-three Christmas songs later, everyone was tired of Christmas songs, and that was the end of the Christmas Song War.

"Oh, would you two shut up!" Everyone chorused at Shane and I.

"Fine!" Shane and I said at the same time.

"You know I won that," I whispered to him.

"No…I believe I did," he defended.

Three more hours of sitting next to him. Just three more hours. Just three. I can make it. Maybe.

* * *

**Hey! Thanks for reading :D This is a christmas story. It's going to be a three or four shot. I'm sure it will be completed on Christmas day! Possibly...BTW, if you read my story Not Only In Aladdin. EXPECT AN UPDATE SOON. As for Red, White, Blue, And Stars, Too, I'm sorry I haven't updated in SO long. It will be updated eventually. I'll make sure of it.**

**hope you like this so far (: what are you're thoughts?**

**REVIEWS are cherished! so please review [: they are the most amazing present an author could get. hahaha.**


	2. TheOneTimeIRegretNotListeningToMyFather

**A Christmas Tale**

_The One Time I Regret Not Listening to My Father's Orders_

When we got to the great log cabin, which was surrounded by towering pine trees, I sighed. This was room picking time. Of course Shane always tries to get the best and biggest room in the house with the flat screen television and stereo system in it. Nate and I try to get that one, too. Jason is indifferent on that room and prefers the room with the big window to watch birds fly by. Frankie's just happy to be here and could care less about what room he gets. Us kids get the room on the second floor, and the parents get the first floor. That's how it's always been.

"Hey Mitchie, Nate. You know I'm getting that room, so don't bother trying," Shane stated confidently. Nate and I just laughed. Nate and I find it humorous how Shane thinks he's so superior to us.

"Oh, I'm so giving up now," I said, mocking Shane.

"I'm intimidated now!" Nate joined me in the mocking of Shane. We burst out laughing, and clung onto each other. Before we knew what he was doing, Shane pushed us down in the three feet of snow and ran into the cabin to get the best room. Jerk. Nate and I both struggled to get up, but it didn't work.

"You get up first, Mitch," he ordered. I did so and helped him up. We both ran inside the cabin. We marched up the stairs to the room we knew Shane already claimed. Shane was already unpacking his stuff.

"Hey Asshole, you cheated!" I accused. Nate went to go check to see which room Frankie picked.

"Aw, is someone upset?" Shane asked in a mocking, childish tone. I groaned, and Nate reentered the room.

"Ugh, dude, you suck! Frankie has the second best room. Now Mitchie and I get the crappiest rooms that feel like they're below freezing temperatures," Nate complained.

"Sorry to you, Nate, but the coldest room is perfect for the Ice Queen," Shane looked right at me when I said that.

"Good one," I complemented sarcastically and left the room.

When I finished unpacking in my meat locker of a room, we got called down for brunch. That was interesting.

"Mitchie, would you be ever so kind as to hand me the bowl of bacon?" Shane asked politely with a smirk on his face.

"No, not really," I shrugged.

"Mitchie, is that anyway to act?" my mom scolded me.

"Sorry, I was just looking out for his heart. Bacon isn't that good for you, you know," I smiled sweetly at Shane.

"Thanks, Mitchie. It was so _uncharacteristically _thoughtful of you to care about my heart," Shane feigned a smile.

"It's also _uncharacteristically_ nice of you to actually appreciate something someone does for you," I retorted.

"I think they're going to start fighting," I heard Frankie whispered to Jason.

"Yeah, pretty much," Jason whispered back.

"You know this is actually in character for you. You're trying to annoy me, that's no surprise," Shane shot back.

"Shane, stop bothering Mitchie," his dad told him.

"Oh, Shane, your arrogance is showing. You think you're the most important person at the table that I wouldn't even think to annoy someone else," I accused.

"That makes no sen-" Shane was cut off.

"You two may be excused from the table," my dad said. I shot a look at my dad. He's booting his own daughter from the table? My dad shot me a stern glare back. Shane and I bickered all the way up the stairs.

"Bacon is fattening," I informed him. Shane took off his sweat jacket, so he was now only wearing a white t-shirt. Shane flexed his muscles. Damn, he was ripped. He had abs now, too. I couldn't help but stare at them.

"I work out. I can eat as much bacon as I want as long as I go to the gym...drooling over anything in particular, Mitchie?" Shane laughed menacingly.

"Jerk," I muttered, pushing him out of the way since he was standing directly in front of the door to my room.

"You only think I'm a jerk because I have the body of a Greek god," Shane said knowingly. That's not true. It's his personality, too. See, it's not _entirely _true.

After everyone was finished with brunch, Frankie brought me into his room for a reason unknown and left. Then he came back dragging Shane in. "Frankie, what are you doing?" Shane asked, hesitantly walking the room. Frankie closed the door.

"Nate, guard the door!" Frankie yelled.

"I am, Frank," Nate said in a bored tone.

"Sit on my bed," Frankie told us. We did as we were told. What was Frankie up to?

"Frankie, we're going to the ski resort soon. What is this about?" Shane asked, annoyed.

"Since you two don't get along, we're playing the Compliment Game," Frankie announced. He clearly came up with the idea since he had a proud look on his face.

"The hell I am," Shane said abruptly getting off the bed and walking to the door. Usually, Shane would able to get out if it was just Nate blocking the door, but I think Jason joined in.

"Sit down!" Frankie commanded, trying to push Shane back on the bed. Shane let him. "Okay, so this is how you play. Shane, you say something nice about Mitchie. Mitchie, you say something nice about Shane. Then you can both leave," he explained the rules. Shane and I shot each other a look in disgust.

"Mitchie, I like your man-hands," he said bluntly with a smirk. Gee, thanks. Is he seriously going to drag that one on?

"Shane, I like how your eyebrows look drawn in with a sharpie," I said with a sickly sweet smile. He raised his eyebrows and touched them self-conscientiously.

"Good, now I'm leaving," Shane was about to leave, but Frankie pushed him back down with all his might.

"Not so fast. I want real compliments, even if you have to sit here all day," Frankie stated. I sighed. That's impossible. I can't compliment Shane. Yes, he has a nice body, nice hair, nice eyes, nice everything. But it turns ugly when his terrible personality overshadows it.

After sitting for five minutes with not one thing said, Frankie spoke up again. "Come on, guys. There has to be one thing you think is nice about each other." Shane looked at me, as if he was trying to find something he liked, or maybe as if he was trying to remember something.

"I...like your smile," Shane admitted. The way his confidence deflated when he said it might have been sincere. I widened my eyes. I didn't expect him to along with this. He likes my smile, or he lied. That's always a possibility.

"I like that small freckle on your cheek," I laughed. He looked at me funny, but then it hit him. He remembered and offered a smile. When we were little, Shane was sick at the hospital, and I was forced to visit him with Nate. I was being nice to Shane because he just got over an injury, and Shane was being nice to me because he felt weak and didn't have enough energy to be mean. We were all on the subject of freckles, and I stupidly said that I liked his freckle. It was a stupid, meaningless little memory, for some reason it stayed in my head. I'm surprised he even remembered.

"Alright, Frankie. Happy now? Let me out," Shane demanded. Frankie nodded and made this weird sound which must have been the code or something to let us out. He strode to the door and ripped it open. Nate and Jase were at the sides of the door, and Shane just glared at them and disappeared.

------x3------

**no one's point of view**

"That was such a cool trick you showed me," Mitchie smiled flirtatiously at the teenage snowboarding prodigy. They were engaged in a conversation near a ski lift.

"Really? Well, you inspired it," the snowboarding male smiled. "Maybe you can inspire some other things, too."

"Mitchie really does get all the guys," Frankie observed from afar, laughing at the snowboarder Mitchie had under her spell.

"Yeah. One time at the movie theaters, Mitchie didn't have enough money left over for popcorn and I was all out as well. Mitchie really wanted popcorn, so she got all flirty with the snack guy and we got plenty of candy and junk for free," Nate chuckled, looking back on a memory.

"Doesn't she realize that's sort of degrading? Trying to give a guy an arousal so she can get stuff for free?" Shane asked disapprovingly. Nate looked at him funny.

"What are you, her dad?" Nate teased. Shane rolled his eyes.

"No, her dad is up at the bar with our dad when he should be watching Mitchie like this with some guy she just met," Shane said seriously.

"Bro, are you okay? You do realize you are showing care about Mitchie, right?" Nate asked jokingly.

"I don't fucking care. She should! That guy is radiating off douche waves. In fact, I'm only insulting her. I'm implying she's a slut who can't pick decent guys," Shane clarified. Frankie's mouth gaped. He was on the verge of yelling 'Shane said a bad word!'

"Dude, that wasn't cool. Mitchie's like family- you don't call a family member that," Nate defended Mitchie. Shane rolled his eyes.

"Where's Jason?" Shane asked, subtly changing the subject.

"He went skiing on biggest mountain! That's sick! I'm only on the bunny hill!" Frankie said in awe, slightly jealous. This was only Frankie's third time snowboarding, so he didn't even try the bigger mountains yet.

"I'm gonna join him," Shane announced. His one foot was locked into the snowboard, and he pushed with his other foot to the ski lift, and he was gone. Nate went on the bunny hill so he could help Frankie be good enough to go on more intermediate courses and not amateur bunny hills. Jason was the only skier; everyone else snowboarded.

------x3------

**(Back to Mitchie's POV!)**

I was on the ski left with this cute guy headed towards the biggest mountain you can go down. I just kept looking at it in front and below me, thinking 'Wow. I am so going to break my leg.' That's all this mountain screams. I think it wants to break my leg.

I was nervous, and not only because of the mountain if you know what I mean-the cute guy next to me whom have I known for an hour ever since I arrived here. We had a lot in common and we already exchanged phone numbers.

"You scared? This is nothing," Andy assured me. That was his name. Andy. It was cute. He had piercing blue eyes and shaggy blond hair. Usually, I'm not into the blond boys, but this one's got my head spinning.

"I think I'm just scared right now 'cause I keep looking down below me to my one million story fall of death," I gulped. Andy laughed. I glared at him playfully.

"I wouldn't let you fall," he joked, but I knew he was serious. I smiled at him- he was nice, unlike some other guys I know. Well, yeah, we did just meet, but I think even if you just met a person you wouldn't want them to be harmed. That is unless you hate the person you just met. Ha, I'm sure when I was a baby and just met Shane I instantly hated him. My mom insists that when Shane and I first met when we were babies I smiled at him. Wrong.

"I can't believe it's Christmas Eve," I said conversationally.

"Yeah, I know. That time between Thanksgiving and Christmas just flew by. It's snowing lightly right now, but it's going to be a full blown storm in a couple hours. That's when most people are leaving. We might actually have a white Christmas," he talked at a mile a minute. Then he started singing White Christmas in a deep voice jokingly and I slapped his arm.

The ski lift dropped us off at the top of the mountain and surprisingly without hesitation; Andy and I were already going down it speedily.

When we got halfway down, he told me to stop because he needed to fix the bindings on his board so his boot wouldn't fall out of place. I sat down next to him as he was fixing it and a gust of snow hit my face because of an obnoxious snowboarder. I didn't even have to wipe the snow from my face to know what it is.

"Sucker," I heard Shane's voice yell as he was going down the mountain. Wow, he's a complete ass. I groaned.

"Who was that?" Andy asked.

"Oh, no one, just one of those idiots."

"What a jackass. Want me to get him back for you?" Andy offered. I grinned. As tempting as that sounds, I think I want to do that myself.

"That's sweet, but it's okay," I assured him.

Andy and I had a fun time, but he had to go. He told me while I was in town after Christmas, that I should come up to his house. He lives here all year round.

Soon, it got dark out. It started snowing harder and harder by the minute. I still didn't get Shane back. I was about to go for one last run when I heard that familiar voice from behind me. "Mitchie, we're leaving," Shane informed me.

"I'm just going to go down one more time," I told him, walking towards the ski lift.

"Your dad wants you back. Now," Shane said. I didn't listen to him. I just kept walking and hopped up onto the ski lift. I heard Shane yell at me, and before I knew it, he hopped on the ski lift chair behind mine. "Mitchie, what is wrong with you?" he asked to the back of my head. I turned around in my chair to face him, which was probably not the safest thing to do but I didn't care.

"I don't know. This guy Andy really got me into snowboarding. I'm so much better at it than last year. It just gives me this thrill," I explained. Shane just rolled his eyes.

"The storm is already here, Mitchie. They're closing five minutes for the storm. You're being stupid," Shane scolded me.

"You know, you didn't have to follow me up here," I said angrily, folding my arms.

"Yeah, so then when I'd come back to the lounge without you your dad would have killed me," he said a little louder, because the wind was drowning out his voice.

"You don't want a little thrill? What happened to you? You used to be DJ Danger," I said dejectedly.

"I grew up- I don't find danger as fun as it used to be," Shane stated. I sighed. Suddenly, all the chairs on the ski lift started shaking from the wind ripping around.

"Shane," I whimpered involuntarily. He was the only one up here with me. Whose other name can I say? Yep, I'm officially scared.

"You just had to go on one more time," he said sarcastically, showing no sympathy towards me. "Mitchie, turn back around. The lift is about to drop us off." I almost lost my balance as I glided off the ski lift and onto the snow with Shane following just behind me. I stumbled onto the ground since I forgot to strap my other boot into the binding. I immediately fixed that. Shane just laughed at my stupidity

"Hey, you want to make this interesting?" I asked getting up, already forgetting those scared feelings from the ski lift.

"Do I ever," he stated sardonically.

"Shut up. We should have a race," I suggested.

"Yeah, no. That's a bad idea," he said, shaking his head.

"You just know I'm going to win," I challenged. He snorted.

"Fine. We'll race. We can make this even more interesting, though," Shane prompted. I knew exactly where he was going with this.

"If I win, you let my drive your fancy new car when we get back home," I said with confidence that I would win. I don't care if his house is twenty minutes away from mine. I will go to his house and take his new car for a spin.

"Alright," Shane agreed reluctantly. "But if I win, you have to be my slave for the entire day." I frowned. I better win then- which I will.

"Sure," I accepted his bargain. "When I say one, two, three, go, the race will start," I clearly told him the rules. We aligned our snowboards so we would start at the same point to make it fair. "Oonneeee," I drawled. "Twoooo. Threeeee."

"Would you just say go al-" I cut off Shane's annoyed tone.

"Go!" I said quickly and I was in the lead. It wasn't exactly cheating. I just said it when he wasn't expecting it. I was in the lead for a while, but then Shane started to inch his way ahead.

"You are such a cheater, Mitchie," I heard him yell over the wind. It almost echoed. I'm not allowed to cheat? How come he's allowed to cheat in monopoly? Or that time we played poker with Nate? Before I knew what was happening, Shane cut directly in front of me. I didn't want to hit into him. I lost my balance and fell onto the cold, snowy ground.

I wanted to get up. I wanted to scream at Shane. I couldn't. I groaned in pain. I knew immediately that my arm was broken. To top that off, my legs were twisted under me, so they were hurting. The wind was conspiring against me, and the snow was coming down so hard I couldn't see things farther away.

I'm not fragile. Maybe a little, but I'm not a porcelain doll. I slowly tried to get up, but I fell back down. I started panicking. "Shane!" I called. "Shane!" I started crying. At this point, I didn't know if I was crying because of the pain or because of the thought of being left alone out here. "Fuck you, Shane."

"Well, that isn't very nice to say to the only person that can help you. Is it?" I heard Shane's voice. I looked around for him and he started to become visible as he walked closer and closer to me. His snowboard was now in his arms.

"You're the one that did this to me, jackass!" I screamed at him.

"What did I do?" he asked, confused.

"You _purposely _cut right in front of me so I would fall, so you could win. You're so low," I fumed. "I'm pretty sure my arm is now broken and my legs are so sore I can't walk."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you would g-get hurt," he apologized. "I really wish you just never wanted to go down the slope one more time."

"Are you trying to put the blame on me? We could have already been at the bottom of the slope ready to go home by now if you didn't have to be such an ass and make me fall over," I hissed. He winced. He got down on his knees and started unhooking my snowboard from my snowboarding boots. "What are you doing?" I asked my voice much calmer.

"Taking off your snowboard," he answered, stating the obvious. "Look like I'm going to have to carry you down to the lounge."

"Damnit. Do you realize how long that could take?" I asked worriedly.

"Yes I do, but I have no other choice," he told me.

"You can leave me here, and snowboard your way down to the lounge and get someone to come back up and help me! That would be quicker," I suggested. Shane blew out air, contemplating it.

"I'm not leaving you here," he yelled above the wind as it whipped harder and harder. In the movies, that may come off sounding romantic and loyal and just plain adorable, but it wasn't. I think he just wants to prolong my suffering.

"Shane, you have to, otherwise I'll be suffering with pain much longer," I tried convincing him.

"That's true. What if you froze to death?" he asked. I mentally rolled my eyes at him. Yes, I was freezing, but I wouldn't freeze to death in the amount of time it would take for him to get someone to help me. He looked at me and knew I didn't buy the freezing to death thing. "What if I couldn't find you again? What if no one could find you? I know it's hard to believe, but I care about you. What if somehow you die out here because I left you alone for even a short time and you died? The guilt would eat me alive and I'd never be able to live myself down. And even if the guilt wouldn't be enough, your dad would kill me. Nate would kill me. Frankie would kill me. Hell, I would kill me. I'll unofficially be ousted from the family." Okay, he's sort of right. Though, those are almost selfish reasons. He's only caring about what will happen to him because of something that would be his fault.

"Even though most of your reasoning sounds a little selfish- I get your point. Just pick me up gently," I ordered. He gently picked me up bridal style and carefully rested my broken arm on his shoulder. I was wincing from pain throughout the whole thing, but there wasn't much he could have done about that. He was already touching me as if I was so fragile I could crumble from the slightest contact.

"Mitchie, I really am sorry," he apologized for the fiftieth time within around ten minutes. I don't think we were making much progress. Maybe if we were on the bunny hill we would have, but no, we just had to be on the biggest, most advanced slope at the resort. Nice.

"I know, I know," I said to shut him up.

"I'm sure you'll never forgive me for this one," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Doubt it. I still haven't forgiven you for eating the last piece of pumpkin pie four years ago," I said dryly. He just laughed humorlessly.

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**OhEmGee. Thanks for thee eleven reviews and the alerts and favorites! :D You're all very nice. Sorry it took me so long to update. I didn't realize how busy I was going to be. I had a great Christmas with my crazy family. I hope you all had a great Christmas or Hannakuh or whatever it is in which you celebrate. Haha.**

**Did you like this chapter? What are your thoughts? I don't know if I did. Probably 'cause I like the next chapter after this one so much better. I'm pretty sure this story only has two, maybe three chapters to go and I'm determined to finish by december 31st. Wow, 2009 has gone by so fast :[**

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